INTRODUCTION
Art and craft production has been an age long phenomenon. Man in all his journey through life has in one way or the other documented his activities in art and craft forms to buttress his mastery of the environment around him.
Almost all the ethnic people that make up Nigeria practice one form of art or craft, which in most cases depicts their form of culture and worship. It is seen as a means of communication to god. Therefore prior to the coming of the colonial master, Nigeria was a melting pot of artistic explorations.
Almost every cultural group possess one form of sculpture tradition or the other as a closer look shows that most of the artifacts and cultural pieces are in form of stones, terra-cotta, woods, bronze, paintings.
Art and craft play a vital role in the history of the evolution of mankind and is preserved through collecting, conserving, interpreting, exhibiting and protection of the antique art and craft found across the boundaries of the nation a sole responsibility of the Nigerian Museum.
NIGERIAN ART AND CRAFT
Nigerian textile art ranks first among all the rest, it is especially developed in the southwest and northern part of the country. In the north the main center of weaving is Kano, the weaving house produces colorful fabrics on self-made machines, while in the south western region there are the weaving centers of Ibadan, Abeokuta and Iseyin). (Alex, N. 2018)
Another prominent place among the Nigerian handicraft is the weaving of palm fibers from raffia mats and a variety of straw or cane baskets for storage of cereal and even liquid. The woven products from the cities of Ikot Ekpene, Kano and Bida are especially valued.
The famous red morocco leather was produced by craftsmen in Kano which served as export.
There is growing demand for the Nigerian Art both locally and internationally.
ART AND CRAFT FABRICATION ACROSS THE NATION
THE NOK
The Nok culture was the one of the earliest known societies of West Africa. It existed in modern-day Nigerian from around 500 BCE to 200 CE. The Nok farmed crops and used iron tools. Historians and archaeologists refer to this culture as the Nok culture because artifact was the first discovered near the modern Nigerian town of Nok. Nok culture is known for its unique terracotta sculpture and its early iron working.
IGBO-UKWU
Igbo-Ukwu art comes from archaeological site found in eastern Nigerian. These consists of objects made from bronze, terracotta, beads and ivory. They are believed to date around 800 AD. Objects were discovered in ancient burial chambers, shrines and storage areas, produced through sophisticated bronze casting techniques. These objectsinclude bronze pendants, bowls and shells.
BENIN
Benin art originated from powerful ancient Benin kingdom, located in the south-south region of Nigeria. Benin art is also known as court art because it was discovered at the king’s palace and majorly produced for the court of the Oba of Benin.
It is majorly composed of bronze, ivory and wood. They highly decorated and majorly royal works. These works are of great significant to the Benin people.
These arts were discovered in 1897 at the king’s palace, when British soldiers conquered and gained access into the palace of Oba ovoranwen. The art can be dated back to the 14th -15th century.
IFE
The Ife art tradition is of considerable antiquity. Excavation at Ife in central Yorubaland (the site the creation of the world in some Yoruba myth), have shown that naturalistic sculpture in brass and pottery was being produced sometime between 1100 and 1450 CE. The sculptures may represent royal figures and their attendant and life size portrait heads in brass were perhaps used as part of the funerary effigies.
In Africa and Nigeria to be specific, Museums dates back to ancient time where various material of ritual, religion, warfare and political relevance were fashioned conserved and preserved in temples and traditional shrines, including palaces of kings and chief. Permission was sought from the owners to gain access to them. It was an inclusive institution. Notable king, chief, priests and devotees, warriors and hunter keep in their homes trophies worn in war or purchased from the reward of their enterprise (Adediran, 2010).
THE EMERGENCE OF NIGERIAN MUSEUM
The alarming situation was that these priceless artifacts were illicitly trafficked in large numbers outside the country. The establishment of Nigeria antiquities service in July 28th 1943, with K.C Murray as the pioneer Director was to curtail this trend. Despite the effort of setting up of two pioneer Museums in Esie and Jos, illegal exportation and indiscriminate acquisition of Nigeria’s priceless antiquities continued, until a legislative bill was passed in 1953 to stop this heinous act.
Professor Kenneth O. Dike became the first chairman of Antiquities Commission working with other stakeholders such as traditional rulers and members drawn from the different regions of the Federation including government representatives. Their main duty was to formulate policies, take decisions on the establishment of Museums and the declaration of important historical sites and Monuments. Early Museums in Nigeria, include: Esie-1943, Jos-1952, Ife-1954, Lagos-1957, Benn-1960, Oron-1959 (reopened 1978), Kano historic site-1950.
It is necessary to emphasize here that by the end of 1st and 2nd world war; cultural properties, all over the world witnessed tremendous looting, vandalization, destruction, theft and illegal exportation. To curtail this alarming mishap, several conventions were held to proffer solution. These conventions include:
- The world heritage convention in Hague; which protected cultural heritage properties in the event of armed conflict or war (1954).
- It also prohibited and prevented the illicit import/export and transfer of ownership of cultural properties in 1970.
However, most significant is
The UNESCO convention of 16th November, 1972: This convention provided a more detailed and useful legislation for the protection of cultural heritage properties. It advised countries that signed the pact to raise their own heritage law based on the contents of the convention, thus decree 77 of 1979 (Now NCMM Act. Cap N19, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004) established the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).
Importantly, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the agency saddled with the responsibility of licensing and control of museums has about 52 museums and 65 national monuments across the nation under its supervision, some institutions have also established museums to their credits i.e the Currency Museum by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Force Museum by the Nigeria Police, Army Museum by Nigerian Army. Also some prominent individuals have also established museums Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Black Heritage Museum, Kalakuta Republic Museum, etc.
LIST OF MUSEUMS IN NIGERIA
- National Commission for Museums and Monuments Abuja, 2) National Museum of Colonial History, Aba, 3) National Museum, Abakaliki 4) National Museum, Abeokuta
- National museum, Akure 6) National museum, Asaba 7) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Mausoleum, BauchI 8) National museum, Benin 9) Rock art interpretive center, Birnin – Kudu 10) National museum, Calabar 11) Slave History Museum, Calabar
12) National Museum, Damaturu 13) Nation Museum of Unity, Enugu 14) National Museum, Esie 15) National Museum, Gombe 16) National Museum Hong, Jos
- Institute of Archaeology and Museums Studies (I.A.M.S), Jos 18) National Museum and Unity, Ibadan 19) National Museum ICT Center Oko Surulere 20) National MuseumIgbo-Ukwu 21) National Museum Ile-Ife 22) National Museum Ilorin
23) National Museum Jalingo 24) National Museum Jos 25) National Museum Kanta
26) Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture (MOTNA), Jos 27) Zoological Garden Jos 28) Center for Earth Construction Technology (CECTECH) 29) National Museum Kaduna 30) Gidan Makama Museum Kano 31) National Museum Katsina 32) National Museum Koko 33) National Museum Lafia 34) National Museum Lagos 35) National Museum Colonial History Lokoja 36) National Museum Maiduguri 37) National Museum Makurdi 38) National Museum Minna 39) National Museum NOK 40) National Museum Ogbomosho 41) National Museum Oron 42) National Museum Oshogbo 43) National Museum Owerri 44) National Museum Owo 45) National Museum Oyo 46) National museum Port-Harcourt 47) National Museum Sokoto 48) Interpretation Center Sukur 49) National War Museum Umuahia 50) National Museum Uyo 51) National Museum Yenagoa 52) National Museum Yola
MUSEUMS AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Museum development in Nigeria has come a long way since the birth of the first museum, National Museum, Esie in Kwara state with over 1,500 soap story images, one of the largest in the world. Museum has continued to provide a window into our past and helps us understand our cultural lineage which has greatly contributed to national development by
- Preserve of artifacts, objects and other religious and cultural materials has increase its value and serves as a source of tourism
- Establishment of cultural ties amongst countries with different values and history
- Educational training in different crafts such as tie and die, weaving, pottery etc encourages self reliance
- Promotes passing of the Nigerian cultural heritage to generations
Challenges:
Poor Funding affecting maintenance of museums as they rely mostly on Federal Government allocations, lack of infrastructure, non availability of modern security gadgets and skilled personnel to mange security breach, Low cultural awareness and religious beliefs as people still see museum as a place where idols are kept and therefore should not be visited
Conclusively, In order for any museum to provide adequate and efficient services, funding be made available for museums’ administration, management which could be through public private partnership collaborations in areas of technology, training, security, and promoting cultural awareness, this would improve services and patronage to this critical tourist sector.
Grace Dauda writes from National Museum, Kaduna.
